Preparing your garden for heavy rain
The Hurricane Season has commenced and although the rains have not started yet, we are often asked “How should I prepare my garden for the anticipated rain?” This is a legitimate question as you really want to give your garden the best chance of looking just as beautiful or even more beautiful on the other side of summer. There are easy steps you can take to protect your plants & trees and to prepare your garden for rain. So, let’s look at some tips to help your garden cope with the wind and rain that the season may bring.
Simple tips to prepare your gardens
Prepping your garden for the Hurricane Season is not only about protecting it from deluge (a severe flood), but also water management. The time is right to spruce up your garden beds with a layer of organic mulch, but it is also essential to add a wetting agent as well. Wetting agents include surfactants which reduce the surface tension of water so that it spreads and is absorbed by dry soil and potting mix. They help water transfer from particle to particle. Therefore, the combination of mulch & wetting agent will:
- Protect your plants from drying out in the summer heat
- Absorb and disperse the moisture more evenly
- Reduce the amount of watering you need to do
- Inhibit weed growth
Fertilizer… seriously?
Yes, the reality is that heavy rains and increased rainwater will wash away nutrients and leave your plants starved for good old-fashioned nutrients. You can use any fertilizer, but organic fertilizers tend to not wash out quite as quickly as liquid fertilizers.
Add free drainage
You don’t need to be a plumber to add natural drainage to your garden. All you need is a little sand, some broken pots and gravel. Mix them in with the soil to let water flow and make sure all pots have an exit hole. You can also make small trenches in flower beds to divert the water where you’d like it to go. This is ideal if you want to prepare your garden for rain but don’t have a huge budget.
Preparing your garden for strong winds
Preparing your garden for the wet season and its strong winds also will require you to look at reducing wind resistance and maximize the stability of your trees.
Pruning is key to giving branches a better chance of withstanding winds. You may not have considered it, but foliage that is thick and bushy will offer too much resistance to the wind. It is also a good idea to trim your trees before the threat of damaging storms or hurricanes and remember to protect your home by clearing away loose or dead branches.
Additionally, you can encourage the roots of your trees to grow deeper into the soil and make them more stable, by commencing an appropriate watering regimen. When you water thoroughly, but infrequently (every few weeks for example), the water will soak deeper into the soil, encouraging root growth to follow.
Need more advice on how to prepare your garden for the wet season?
Contact our friendly Garden Centre staff today at Tel: 536-0641. Visit us to make your selections.